Disney partners with Comcast to provide ABC, ESPN on-demand

Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal allowing Comcast Corp. cable customers access to all of its popular channels — including ESPN, ABC, ABC Family and the Disney Channel — from portable devices and video-on-demand services.

The expansive deal, announced Wednesday, will allow Comcast's more than 22 million cable customers who sign up for its Xfinity service to watch the Disney channels live or on-demand either while they are in their homes or on the go via their tablets or other portable devices.

This is the first time that Comcast has agreed to pay for local retransmission of ABC-owned TV stations. For the last three years, broadcasters have been negotiating with cable companies to pay for signals that they previously provided for free.